It was a boring routine.

After the dreamy pure bed cuddle they shared, Carlos did not come near her.

He seems afraid that Ariel would touch him.

The only times that he came anywhere close to her was when several others were together.

Ariel alone could never get out of the bedroom without Leandro’s permission. It hurt a little to just stay in the room all day doing nothing.

She knew what Carlos was afraid of, so she couldn’t approach him without a moment’s notice.

She wished they could just be friends and talk to each other.

Perhaps the story of the servants who lost their necks upon messing with Ariel had spread through the grapevine, the servants who came to clean the emperor’s quarters did not dare to look at her.

On the second day after spending a full day without talking or having anything to do, Ariel was stunned to see Leandro, who returned to the palace earlier than expected.

It was because he, who was fine just the day before yesterday, was carried on a stretcher nursing great wounds.

Without knowing what the hell was going on, Ariel hurriedly laid Leandro on the bed and examined his wound. Fortunately, it didn’t seem as bad as it looked. When she overheard the soldier who was reporting the incident to Carlos, she figured out that someone who mistook Leandro for a beast shot an arrow deep in the forest, and fortunately, he missed his shoulder, but he fell off the horse and injured his arms and legs.

Carlos went out to search for the criminal with a grim face she had never seen before.

Ariel never said a word to Carlos, who was appalled to find an ignorant man who dared to shoot an arrow by mistaking Baldwin’s Emperor for a wild beast and ran out to punish him severely.

He was away only a day and a half, but Leandro held Ariel and did not let her go, as if he hadn’t seen her for a month. His longing for Ariel seemed endless even with an unfit body.

“Leave it as it is, come here.”

He gently called for Ariel as she was trying to get the immobile Leandro some water to drink.

Although he was annoyed by his injury, Leandro felt good inside thinking that Ariel was taking care of him. Her voluntary interest in him was always welcome.

Ariel put down the glass bottle and approached Leandro’s bedside.

“Your Majesty, do you need anything?”

He was very satisfied seeing the anxiety and anxiousness in her deep blue eyes. Leandro raised his unharmed arm and stretched it toward Ariel.

“You.”

“Yes?”

“I need you, Ariel. I need you. Come here.”

It felt so alien for him to ask her to give him a hug with his huge physique that could allow him to hunt wild animals with his bare hands.

Rage and innocence.

Cruelty and candor.

Somehow the gap between the two completely different personalities felt cute. Ariel smiled softly and held Leandro’s outstretched arm.

“Oh.”

When Ariel didn’t come into his gentle embrace, Leandro pulled her hand hard. Ariel, who almost fell into Leandro’s arms, jumped up from her seat.

“Your Majesty! What are you going to do if I touch a sore spot?”

“Your weight won’t affect me.”

Leandro held Ariel tightly in one arm. Stuck in his magnificent arm muscles, Ariel wondered if this would break her body.

Leandro, who had his nose pinned on Ariel’s forehead, closed his eyes and breathed a comfortable sigh. His Ariel, his own Ariel. When he hugged her, I felt a little breathless.

Leandro’s bare chest touched Ariel’s cheek as he had taken off his upper chest to disinfect and stop the wound.